Gaming the System

For reasons that are fortunate or unfortunate, I know more hedge fund managers than the average person. Hedge fund managers are not great at a lot of things perhaps, but they tend to be good at finding an edge.

Speaking of the edge, I am aware that I exist on it.

Social media revolutionized this game that we play here. Specifically in the past few years, the landscape of adult “business” has changed. Between a minor normalization of the adult industry as its workings became more public and accessible and developments in financial technology, there was a certain wild west feeling to being a beautiful woman with a smartphone.

(New York, January 2021.

Years ago, I designed a game to play that created some visibility for me. A hologram run on AI to an extent on one hand, and a live performance on the other. It is fair to say that what I built changed the way that commerce is conducted online. A few years later and companies have grown and boomed to facilitate digital monetization (for a fee) and I’ve watched language I used spin off from me like fractals, becoming so common that their origin is no longer clear.

Being distinctive comes with rewards. But it comes with risk, too.

Social media can be a tool to connect with potential clients or other people in the industry. But it is also, unfortunately, an invitation for some to use the criminalized and stigmatized status of people who inhabit the demimonde as a lever. Where I’ve seen great success with having social media, I’ve also experienced and witnessed attempts to “out” sex workers and sabotage their success. In a more benign sense, the tempo of “content” online is unappealing to me now.

In another life, I am a scientist. One of the things I study is how complex systems work.

Over the years I avoided major advertising sites and used my writing and imagery to secure interest. A few ago, SESTA/FOSTA changed the landscape again. Sex workers (escorts, porn stars, etc) and women in general have seen the walls closing in on their social media presences either losing accounts or being shadowbanned online so that they are less visible. Additionally, technology companies began monitoring device/IP information against personal information used in financial technology to deny service to anyone they deemed to be involved in sex work. So beyond the lack of joy I feel in running social media accounts for myself at this point, the risks are outweighing the return.

One of those aforementioned hedge fund managers made an observation about me that has stuck with me. He said that one of my most notable and uncommon traits is my abstract reasoning, or my ability to understand systems in unusual or uncommon ways.

So where does that leave us? I’ve never fit a straightforward category online (or off).

I have always had a no review policy and avoided advertising sites to the extent possible. And while I love an audience, having social media that is overtly connected to this endeavor seems like a certain liability. To make the right connections in the current climate, I have to game the system, find an edge.

So cultivating mass visibility (e.g. a(nother) large twitter following) is not on the table. I am seeking a more evolved and direct connection here anyway. I do like to show off tho….so I’m reconfiguring how that will look…and where. In the meantime, the best way to keep track of me is to get into my black book. And the best way to know me is to meet me.*

Perhaps I’ll see you around.

Xx,
ls.

*Speaking of gaming the system, since changing my name and having been inactive for a time, I need to re-certify for p411. So if any of you would like to (re) introduce yourself, now is always a great time. :)